8th pay commission
The expectations of central employees regarding the 8th Pay Commission are continuously increasing. Meanwhile, Jammu and Kashmir Employees Federation has placed before the Commission a demand to fix the minimum basic salary at Rs 55,000. In a meeting held with Commission officials in Srinagar, the employees’ organization also suggested implementing 3.05 fitment factor.
Federation President Rafiq Malik, in a memorandum submitted to the commission, said that the current salary structure is not fully meeting the real needs of the employees and their families. Therefore, new standards should be adopted for salary determination.
Demand for salary of Rs 55,000
The employee organization has introduced a new mathematics to decide the minimum wage. In the 7th Pay Commission, the salary was fixed considering three family units as the basis, whereas the organization has now recommended five family units as the basis. This includes the employee, his spouse, two children and parents.
According to the organization, at the rate of Rs 6,000 per unit, the basic salary of five units comes to Rs 30,000. After this, if the current 58 percent dearness allowance (DA) is added, this amount becomes Rs 47,400. At the same time, if 20 to 25 percent increase in food, nutrition and other consumption expenses is included, this amount reaches between Rs 56,880 to Rs 59,250. On this basis, the organization has recommended keeping the minimum basic salary between Rs 55,000 to Rs 60,000.
Demand to increase annual increment from 3% to 6%
The federation says that the current 3 percent annual salary increase does not adequately increase the real income of the employees. Therefore, the 8th Pay Commission should consider increasing the annual increment to 6 percent. With this, the income of the employees will increase in line with inflation.
Suggestion of change in DA and HRA rules
The organization has also demanded changes in the current process of calculating dearness allowance. He says that in the calculation of DA, full benefit should be given not by reducing the decimal digits but on the basis of actual increase.
Apart from this, to increase the House Rent Allowance (HRA), it has been suggested to reduce the DA limit from 50 percent to 25 percent. The organization believes that once DA reaches 50 percent, it should be merged with the basic salary and after that new rates of HRA should be implemented.
Demand for OPS and hard zone allowance also
The Employees Federation has reiterated the demand to abolish the National Pension System (NPS) and restore the Old Pension Scheme (OPS). Besides, it has also been proposed to give an additional “Hard Zone Allowance” of 10 percent of the basic salary to the employees working in remote and difficult areas.
Employee organizations believe that if these suggestions are included in the 8th Pay Commission, it can provide huge benefits to lakhs of central employees and pensioners.
